V.iii.31 (127,1) a ring that I must use/In dear employment] That is, _action of importance_. Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. V.iii.86 (129,4) her beauty makes/This vault a feasting presence full of light] A _presence_ is a _public room_. V.iii.90 (129,5) O, how may I/Call this a lightning?] I think we should read, --_O_, now _may I Call this a lightning_!-- V.iii.178 (135,1) Raise up the Montagues.--Some others; search:-- We see the ground whereon these woes do lie; But the true ground of all these piteous woes We cannot without circumstance descry] Here seems to be a rhyme intended, which may be easily restored; "Raise up the Montagues. Some others, go. "We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, "But the true ground of all _this_ piteous _woe_ "We cannot without circumstance descry." V.iii.194 (136,2) What fear is this, which startles in our ears?] [Originally _your ears_] Read, "What fear is this, which startles in _our_ ears? V.iii.229 (138,6) _Fri._ I will be brief] It is much to be lamented, that the poet did not conclude the dialogue with the action, and avoid a narrative of events which the audience already knew. (141) General Observation. This play is one of the most pleasing of our author's performances. The scenes are busy and various, the incidents numerous and important, the catastrophe irresistibly affecting, and the process of the action carried on with such probability, at least with such congruity to popular opinions, as tragedy requires. Here is one of the few attempts of Shakespeare to exhibit the conversation of gentlemen, to represent the airy sprightliness of juvenile elegance. Mr. Dryden mentions a tradition, which might easily reach his time, of a declaration made by Shakespeare, that _he was obliged to kill Mercutio in the third act, lest he should have been killed by him_. Yet he thinks him _no such formidable person, but that he might have lived through the play, and died in his bed_, without danger to a poet. Dryden well knew, had he been in quest of truth, that, in a pointed sentence, more regard is commonly had to the words than the thought, and that it is very seldom to be rigorously understood. Mercutio's wit, gaiety, and courage, will always procure him friends that wish him a longer life; but his death is not precipitated, he has lived out the time allotted him in the construction of the play; nor do I doubt the ability of Shakespeare to have continued his existence, though some of his sallies are perhaps out of the reach of Dryden; whose genius was not very fertile of merriment, nor ductile to humour, but acute, argumentative, comprehensive, and sublime. The Nurse is one of the characters in which the author delighted: he has, with great subtilty of distinction, drawn her at once loquacious and secret, obsequious and insolent, trusty and dishonest.